New York City is the center of the comms and marketing world but there are many other significant business outposts throughout the U.S. with thriving local business and PR scenes.
Seattle is a great example, home to numerous gigantic corporations with significant comms and marketing teams attached, but its own unique culture and spirit and lots of indie PR shops, too.
Last week I had the welcome opportunity to visit the Emerald City also known for its historical ties to the gold and logging industries as well as more modern aerospace, technology, coffee and music.
Visits to the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center and National Nordic Museum were highlights, but the main purpose of my trip was to moderate a discussion between the heads of communication at two of Seattle’s business giants, Amazon and Microsoft, staged by Kim Hunter’s The Lagrant Foundation.
Young PR pros, high school and university students listened as Drew Herdener and Frank Shaw dispensed their wisdom about getting into the PR industry and the skills that will be required to prosper in what is sure to be an AI-dominated future.
Amazon’s SVP, communications and corporate responsibility Herdener, noted on LinkedIn: “Had an energizing discussion last week with … college and high-school students from across Seattle who came ready to dig into the complexities of our industry. We explored everything from crisis communications to AI’s impact on our work to how to build resilience and adaptability in this rapidly changing world.”
And Microsoft’s CCO Shaw added: “The students grilled us about comms, careers, AI, culture and everything in between! Always good to spend time with communicators talking about the important challenges and opportunities we have, and figuring out how we got here and what’s next. Thanks to attendees as well, who brought a ton of energy and insight!”
The duo, who both have decades-long tenures at their companies, also shared the moments when they realized PR was the path for them, risks in their career journeys that paid off, what they’d tell their 25-year-old selves these days and how to continue to innovate and be creative with all their media and public-facing responsibilities.
One of the best lines was when naval infantry veteran Shaw said that, having been shouted at by a Sergeant Major in the Marines, he could take anything that firebrand Microsoft executives such as Steve Ballmer could throw at him.
And Herdener remembered his pre-Amazon comms tenure at the Seattle SuperSonics NBA franchise fondly. The franchise moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder, but many Seattleites are still lobbying for the return of an NBA franchise to the city.
I did get to visit two sports franchises while I was in town, including the Seattle Kraken, which plays in the Amazon-supported Climate Pledge Arena, the world’s first net-zero-carbon arena. SVP of marketing and communications Katie Townsend oversees comms for the Kraken as well as the venue, hosting acts such as Lady Gaga in August and Adam Sandler last week.
Sandler came up at my next stop at WNBA franchise Seattle Storm, as he had called in with a few buddies while he was in town to shoot a few hoops. VP of PR Sarah Alamshaw had just completed a media tour in New York City introducing the Storm’s new coach, Sonia Raman, the first Indian-American coach to lead a WNBA team.
Over at Starbucks HQ in the SoDo district of Seattle, EVP, chief communications and corporate affairs officer Dominic Carr talked about the PR culture in the Pacific Northwest city.
He explained that many of the global companies tended to look outside Seattle more than inside and the by-product was that communicators in the city weren’t talking to each other.
These days there is more of a sense of community and sharing ideas, even if only informally across comms and PR pros.
You can check out more from my interviews in Seattle on the latest edition of The PR Week podcast.
It is a sophisticated city with a well-developed business and communications market, with the roots of that culture often tracing back to We. Communications, where the likes of Shaw, Townsend, Alamshaw and many others initially plied their PR trade.
A final chat with Kristina Adamski, VP, global communications at Autodesk, and a catch-up with my old Haymarket Media colleague in the U.K., Gareth Jones, now chief global growth officer at entertainment agency Ralph, and it was time to explore the city and then negotiate the trip back to NYC via Newark Airport (more about that nightmare at a different time).
